Roll up, roll up! The British Museum's new exhibition – Ming: 50 years that changed China – opens this week and, say the squealing critics, you really must go. "Ming is still the thing" chants The Times; "Spectacular" says House & Garden Magazine; and the FT says it's an "autumn blockbuster".

But there it is: the "b" word, probably the most off-putting in the reviewer's lexicon. Because if an exhibition is labelled as a "blockbuster", it immediately becomes something greater than the sum of its curated parts – it's forced on you as an unmissable, once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the the Greatest Ever Collection of This Stuff Ever Assembled in the History of the World. If you haven't already bought your ticket, the reviewers might as well add, you're a complete… Read More

Late last night, I was sent this chilling warning by text:
In case you have anyone in London. Don't travel on the tubes tomorrow. Every single police officer in the met has been called into work from 4am onwards, even people on holiday are being told to catch the next flight home. They think there's a terror threat and that it will happen on the tubes tomorrow around the west end area. So don't go travelling on tubes. It's better to be safe.
The sender had received it from a friend's cousin – such is the nature of viral internet rumour – and asked me: "What do you reckon?"

Well, I said, it looks like nonsense – a textbook hoax (and it is exactly that, as we report today).

Does it ever feel to you like Twitter is a Left-wing echo chamber – full of diehard Scargillites who probably cheered the death of Margaret Thatcher? Well, last month that idea was debunked by research that showed – in June, at least – that more people tweeted positive things about David Cameron than they did about Ed Miliband, the Labour leader. If anything, Twitter was Tory: its users spent the month ridiculing Mr Miliband for posing with the Sun, for the hideous bacon sandwich incident and for his questionable leadership style.

So how is it going, a month later? Once again, the experts at impactSocial have been listening in to the political conversation on Twitter. They have taken a random sample of 400 tweets about each of the four main party leaders – David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage. And they've also monitored the volume of political… Read More

A hundred years on, how do you picture the average British officer in the First World War? I find it hard not to think of 2nd Lt George, the ludicrously dim character in Blackadder Goes Forth played by Hugh Laurie. George (who must surely have gone to Eton) is thick as a plank, but jolly brave. When he hears that the lethal “big push” is tomorrow at dawn, his cheerful response is: “Well, hurrah with highly polished brass knobs on! About time!”

That’s roughly the stereotype. British officers at war, wrote the poet Keith Douglas, “are fading into two legends in which their stupidity and chivalry are celebrated”. They behaved with “famous unconcern”, he said – and it was this, not intellect, that set them apart.

But like all stereotypes, it’s a little unfair. In their new… Read More

If 2015 is going be the "selfie" general election – where everything our politicians do, say, eat or tweet is going to be dissected on social media – it's probably worth taking a closer look at that media about now. Twitter claims to have at least 15 million active users in the UK, 80 per cent of which are active on their mobiles (that's according to Nielsen). You only need to compare that to the roughly five million people who were using Twitter at the time of the last general election to see why it's going to form a much bigger part of the political conversation over the next 10 months.

Recently, the experts at impactSocial have been listening in on that conversation – analysing small randomised samples of tweets from hundreds of thousands – to find out what people have been saying on Twitter about David Cameron,… Read More

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Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, maybe, just maybe, it was filled with terror and running from a famished prime minister. Yesterday in Bristol, David Cameron stopped off at Nando's for a spot of Piri Piri chicken. His fellow diners - after snapping a few excited selfies with the PM and sharing them on social media - revealed that he ate a hot half a chicken with chips and coleslaw, and drank a large glass of red wine. It cost £14.95.

A poll of 12,000 Catholics in 12 countries reveals that they disagree strongly with the Church on a whole range of moral issues, all newspapers report today.

Surprised? I'm not. It's blindingly obvious to most Catholics that – away from a few hives of traditionalism – the faithful have departed from official doctrine. What were once views held only by radical Catholics have become mainstream.

To give you an idea, here are some figures from the Univision poll in question: 86% of French Catholics think priests should be allowed to marry; 82% of Spanish Catholics think divorcees who remarry aren't "living in sin"; 73% of Polish Catholics think abortion should be allowed in some cases; 93% of Brazilian Catholics support the use of contraception. Oh, and 54% of US Catholics support gay marriage.

In other words, Pope Francis has an almighty challenge on his hands. If the Church's teaching… Read More

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David Cameron's bid to give the British people a vote on membership of the European Union is a "dead parrot". That's according to Bill Cash, a prominent Conservative Eurosceptic.

Tories reacted with fury today after the PM's plan to enshrine in law an in-out EU vote came under sustained attack from Labour and Liberal Democrat peers in the House of Lords, in what Conservatives claimed was a co-ordinated effort to kill the Bill.

“Voters will see through this subterfuge and realise that only the Conservatives will give them their say on whether they should remain in the European Union,” said Lord Hill, Tory Leader of the House of Lords.

Hmm. Are voters even aware of such subterfuge? More likely they will remember 1) David Cameron's pledge last year… Read More

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WELFARE AND WILBERFORCE

Iain Duncan Smith compared his welfare reforms to the struggle to end slavery. Changes to the benefits system, he said today, are part of a "historic mission" to help people “break free” like William Wilberforce’s campaign to end the slave trade.

Instead of "disapproving" of people on benefits, the Work and Pensions Secretary said, we should blame politicians (i.e. Labour) for creating a failing welfare system that traps people in poverty.

Key quote: “As Conservatives, that is part of our party’s historic mission. Just look at Wilberforce and Shaftesbury: to put hope back where it has gone, to give people from chaotic lives security through hard work, helping families improve the quality of their own lives.”